145 Dead In India Temple Stampede

Rumors Of Landslide Panic Pilgrims At Mountaintop Shrine; Many Trampled, Others Fall To Their Deaths

(CBS/ AP)  Thousands of panicked pilgrims stampeded Sunday at a remote mountaintop temple in northern India, sending dozens of people plummeting to their deaths and trampling scores more. Police said 145 people were killed.

Many were children who had no chance at all, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth. They were crushed or suffocated in the stampede of pilgrims who were frightened by rumors of a landslide on the path to their Hindu shrine.

The crowd of 20,000 or more was too big for a narrow stone pathway leading up to the temple in the foothills of the Himalayas.

When the crowd surged in panic, guard rails gave way -- and some victims fell to their death.

The crowd was gathered for a festival celebrating a Hindu goddess of motherhood. Authorities knew huge crowds would be drawn to the small shrine with no facilities to handle them.

The government now says there will be compensation to the families of all the victims and, Roth reports, an investigation.

The rumors apparently started the panic at the shrine in the foothills of the Himalayas, said C.P. Verma, a senior government official in the Bilaspur district.

Pilgrims already at the Naina Devi Temple began running down the narrow path leading from the peak. There, they collided with devotees winding their way up.

With a concrete wall on one side and a precipice on the other, there was nowhere to escape and they were crushed. At one point a guard rail broke and dozens of people fell to their deaths.

The bodies of the devotees - many dressed in brightly colored holiday clothes - carpeted the path, intertwined with flattened iron railings. Many still held the flowers and food they planned to offer at the temple.

Police said they used a cable car at the shrine to ferry some of the bodies down, and helicopters flew in to take the wounded to hospitals.

At the Bilaspur hospital in Himachal Pradesh state, rescue workers unloaded bodies wrapped in brown blankets from a truck and laid them in neat rows so they could be identified by relatives.

"I rushed to the spot in search of my three children who had gone to pay obeisance at the hilltop shrine," Jawahar Khurana told the Press Trust of India news agency as he searched the bodies.

"I fail to understand why God was so cruel to us," he said.

All the bodies were taken to the Anandpur Sahib hospital in the neighboring state of Punjab where authorities were carrying out autopsies, senior police officer R. N. Dhoke told The Associated Press by telephone from the hospital. He said the death toll was not expected to rise further.

Many of the dead were women and children, he said, and another 37 people were injured and in hospital.

Tens of thousands of worshippers had flocked to the remote temple in the foothills of the Himalayas to celebrate Shravan Navratras, a nine-day festival that honors the Hindu goddess Shakrti, or divine mother.

The temple is about 155 miles northeast of New Delhi.

Deadly stampedes are a relatively common occurrence at temples in India, where large crowds - sometimes hundreds of thousands of people - congregate in small areas lacking facilities to control such big gatherings.

Sunday was the second day of the festival and authorities sought to reassure other pilgrims. "There is no need to panic, everything is normalized now," Verma said.

[nasp4]

I find it sad to think that so many can find humor in such heartbreak.

[xmanborg]

The Hindu Goddess of Motherhood ???

20,000 or more was too big for a narrow stone pathway leading up to the temple in the foothills of the Himalayas.

I worship the Cocktail Goddess of Vodka and Seven and HER temple is in my freezer so I dont have to fear being stampeded by thousands of people.

[winnerindia]

No, the Naina Devi was not happy and we Indians, believe that if you would go against the Devi/God''s will, you would pay for the consequences. That''s all.

[haoli25]

I think you are allowed to yell ''conflagration'' though.

[oneworldusa]

This is why you can''t yell ''FIRE'' in a movie theatre.

[jydavis1]

crazy africans !

[kaffirboetie]

Please also ban Newster1. Thank You

[kaffirboetie]

I kindly request CBSNews to ban WinnerIndia from this site. Thank you

[hbevis]

Why do I see so many people against Religion? People making fun about Religion and the people that practice Religion...!
Religion has been practiced over the years because people have always believed that there is something out there is bigger or smarter than they are. And that this unknown will take care of them if they look up and adhere to what they think it want them to do.

This very sad thing has happened and many people are dead and many hurt. It will take a long time to get over something like this when someone has seen their loved ones killed before their eyes.

[nothappyatall]

Posted by newster1

BWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yet another prime example of how religion KILLS people, 145 DEAD because of a stupid religious belief, OH WELL!


"Actually, they aren''t dead because of a stupid religious belief, they are dead because of a stupid mob reaction to a possible landslide.

Posted by deepperppl "

Wrong there guy, they wouldn''t have been up there to visit a RELIGIOUS SHRINE in the first place were it not for RELIGION, these people were not up there to plant corn or go sightseeing!

[haoli25]

Holy Cow!!!

(sorry, I couldn''t resist.)

[truthislife1]

To downtowner97 part 2
The ONLY way for humans to reach God is when someone comes to their senses and realizes that they CANNOT keep Gods law (me included), and not scream and yell at God for making life so hard, but to fall humbly before our Maker and Jesus Christ His son and tell Him that this is impossible and we need His love and His forgiveness. God then reaches down to us. The 10 commandments were given as a thermometer, to show where the heart of man is, not as a way to tell if I should judge you because you don''t know Jesus or if you break one of them. That is not my job. Read the gospel of John. Also, if one can read Genesis 1:1 and accept it, anything else in the Bible becomes a lot more easy to believe. Getting past the idea that everybody is right is hard. Not EVERYBODY is correct in their belief system. One can be very,very, sincere in their belief and be sincerely wrong. God was not mean to these people in India. They blame him because they believed they were good enough for them not to be treated this way by God.

[truthislife1]

To downtowner97 part 1
You said religion brings the worst out in people no matter which one it is. I have to say you are exactly correct. God never intended us to try to make God happy or appease Him or make Him love us better by what we do or by acting good. Religion brings out the sin in us and makes it more evident because the power to please God only comes by having faith in Him, believing that He is real and is a rewarder of the who diligently seek Him. (Read Romans 1) Religion tries to make man reach up to God, to reach Him in our sinfulness, and give us a set of rules to tell us that God will love us more or take better care of us if we follow those rules. The Isrealites figured this out when they got the 10 Commandments and they failed misiribly at them. That was the whole point of the 10 commandments, not to do them, but to see that we as humans fail and cannot reach God by good works (Galations, new testament).

[winnerindia]

there''''s like no effort to carry the bodies away in those pictures!!? what is everyone just doing standing around and watching? over in the west, people would at least be carrying dead ones away, and not just gazing upon them disinterested. some people just have a very strange view of life. unbelievable.
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Posted by gurusavant at 02:06 PM : Aug 03, 2008
+ report abuse

In India that is something very common. They place the dead bodies of girls and women in a S-E-X-Y style (you may think that I am annoying you guys, but that is true. See the woman in photo number 3). The dead bodies are as if they are inviting for S*X!
People in developing countries are crazy and because their religions don''t allow them to look at women and going to brothels so they don''t miss any moment to stare at women even their dead bodies! In hinduism (India''s main religion), it is forbidden that you
drink alcohol and go to brothels.

How sad it is!!!!! and at least, the CBS news should avoid publishing such photos.

[winnerindia]

there''''s like no effort to carry the bodies away in those pictures!!? what is everyone just doing standing around and watching? over in the west, people would at least be carrying dead ones away, and not just gazing upon them disinterested. some people just have a very strange view of life. unbelievable.
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Posted by gurusavant at 02:06 PM : Aug 03, 2008
+ report abuse

In India that is something very common. They place the dead bodies of girls and women in a *** style (you may think that I am annoying you guys, but that is true. See the woman in photo 3).
People in developing countries are crazy and because their religions don''t allow them to look at women and going to brothels so they don''t miss any moment to stare at women even their dead bodies! In hinduism (India''s main religion), it is forbidden that you
drink alcohol and go to brothels.

How sad it is!!!!! and at least, the CBS news should avoid publishing such photos.

[winnerindia]

there''''s like no effort to carry the bodies away in those pictures!!? what is everyone just doing standing around and watching? over in the west, people would at least be carrying dead ones away, and not just gazing upon them disinterested. some people just have a very strange view of life. unbelievable.
------------------------
Posted by gurusavant at 02:06 PM : Aug 03, 2008
+ report abuse

In India that is something very common. They place the dead bodies of girls and women in a *** style (you may think that I am annoying you guys, but that is true. See the woman in photo 3).
People in developing countries are crazy and because their religions don''t allow them to look at women and going to brothels so they don''t miss any moment to stare at women even their dead bodies! In hinduism (India''s main religion), it is forbidden that you
drink alcohol and go to brothels.

How sad it is!!!!! and at least, the CBS news should avoid publishing such photos.

[gurusavant]

i''d hate to say jonestown, but those dead people look like they drank something.

[jpwalsh123]

I see some of the usual sad display of ignorance and intolerance towards others in these comments. A little travel and understanding of other cultures would help a lot in some cases.
A tragedy.
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Poste
d by liamys at 01:19 PM : Aug 03, 2008


Stampede isn''''t a part of Hindu culture. stupid!


I rest my case. I assume this fellow knows what that means.

[downtowner97]

Religion brings out the absolute worst in people. I don''t care which one it is.

[gurusavant]

never seen this happen at my catholic church
Posted by gurusavant at 12:43 PM

Your church lacks the fundimental element for such a tragedy. You need people to have a stampede.


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Posted by onemoretim at 04:52 PM : Aug 03, 2008


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dude. this religion is 1000 years older than my own. i would think that this significant maturity would show. don''t you??